Why do solo pilots say "we"

Training scar from learning to talk to ATC with your CFI in the plane?
 
DrewC said:
Training scar from learning to talk to ATC with your CFI in the plane?
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I think so. You learn the "script" for doing thing with ATC and tend to remember your lines and repeat them.
 
jordane93 said:
If everyone were jumping off a bridge, would you do it?;)
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Sure. Bridge might be on fire, godzilla could be tearing it up, magneto might be about to relocate it, earthquake, meteor strike, zombies, sharknado, etc.

Dumb question really. Of course I'm jumping. He who hesitates dies horribly.
 
As a CFI I spend the majority of my time with other pilots. Thats one excuse.

The other....we pilots tend to be on the narcissistic side (almost all of us are...explain hangar flying if you don't agree). AS such...I like the think as a compensation pilots tend to feel more friendly if they use the "we" vs the "I" when solo. After all who would like to passively admit that they couldn't convince people to fly with them.

BTW this is totally tongue-in-cheek.

When "I" do fly solo I tend to use "We". Honestly its mostly due to CFI'ing, but its also more natural for me to say "we".
 
jesse said:
Probably because ATC addresses the aircraft (not the pilot), they don't say your name, they say your airplanes name. When you reply you tend to think of yourself as being part of the equation so "we" is used. Sounds right to me.
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I believe Jesse is onto something here.
Also, I picked it up when flying with my buddies even before my student days. Then flying with the CFI and now with the wife or some pups in the back. I rarely fly alone so I think it is just subconscious for me.

Wait, you want me to analyze my own behavior? Isn't that what shrinks are for? And I do it for free? Forget this! I'd rather ask my wife! :eek:
 
In actual seriousness... I think it is self-propagating emulation of what we hear others doing. It's human nature, whether consciously or subconsciously, to mimic others who are doing something we want to do. In this case, we want to use the radio, and we hear others using the radio a certain way. People say we all the time. So you start saying it. You don't even think about it. You just say it. Then people hear you say it and they say it too. It propagates itself.
 
I've been trying to break that habit for almost 20 years. Most of the time I'm good about it. It's rampant on other 2-way radio systems also, not just aviation.
 
I figured it was just someone's eyebrow mites they were referring to. Or the bacteria on their skin. :)
 
You are never alone, remember, the aircraft is taking care of you, have the courtesy to include her in your radio calls.
 
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